Soccer Mom’s Rainbow Coalition
She turned the most popular game on earth into a social opportunity

by Laurie Gwen Shapiro

Soccer Mom Deborah Ribeiro (with Soccer Son, Marcus)

occer moms on the Lower East Side – that’s a joke, right? Think again. Through her foresight and pluck, mother of two Deborah Ribeiro has almost single-handedly created a new local phenomenon.

“At the invitation of an uptown parent, I watched a great Brazilian soccer program for young kids on a Riverside Drive field. I knew it would be a perfect program for my son, but who wants to schlep a young kid all the way up there?”

Then, on a “mommy coffee break” in her window nook, overlooking the spanking new East River Park soccer field just south of Grand Street, the thought came to her: Why not here? Yes, the neighborhood offered so much for her family, except for a connected community spirit. With a background in public relations, journalism and organic cooking, Deborah was a social butterfly who knew many individual parents in the area. But her friends never knew one another. Wouldn’t a soccer program bring everyone together?

Although not nearly obsessed with soccer as her Brazilian husband, Deborah had known all about the game before she met him–her German father would break into a sweat every time the World Cup was on.

She contacted Carlos Oliveira, the energetic coach from the uptown class she had surveyed. Yes, he was willing to talk. This spring, he brought his lauded program to the two soccer fields of East River Park. Our littlest East Side athletes have no idea how good they’ve got it: 44-year-old Oliveira played professionally for the Brazilian football club Santos, the first team soccer legend Pele played for. Oliveira was also a coach for the Bolivian Olympic soccer team.

Deborah’s bold stroke paid off: The first two classes offered to local kids this April were almost immediately .lled. The soccer academy is now adding new students for its East River summer session starting in late June. And a lively social scene among local parents is emerging.

The co-ed soccer classes meet once a week. Ages range from 3 to 5 ½. Even some ultra girly-girls have taken to the program as enthusiastically as the boys have. But what pleases this child of two Holocaust survivors the most is that the program tackles prejudice by the very nature of its colorblind and multicultural inclusion: So far the children signed up are students from the Edgies, Shuang Wen, PS 110, and Mesivta Tifereth Jerusalem. Although there were some postings in laundry rooms, the amazing registration rate came mostly from word-of-mouth and personal persuasion. (I once heard Deborah’s eloquent pitch on the M14, to a newbie mother who eagerly took a Xeroxed handout.)

Once enrolled, each athlete still padded with baby fat is issued a T-shirt with the academy logo. Parents can also purchase a convenient soccer kit, which includes the shirt, socks, cleats, shinguards, and the right-sized ball. It is a non-competitive day. Instead of vying for league prizes, students concentrate on dribbling, shooting, passing and trapping.

Her dashing husband Humberto, a Brazilian- born relationship manager in the financial industry, joins the two of us in their dining area. His face keens when I ask him to describe the difference between Brazilian soccer and the European-style soccer taught in American schools. “[Brazilian soccer is] Graceful. Beautiful. The main difference is that there is art to it.” As a mother of a small child I know there is a void of age-appropriate activity nearby. After 75 or so visits, the now defunct Petland Discount rodent and goldfish zoo on Delancey has long ago lost its lure; a rainy-day athletic outing to the bouncy castle at Sydney’s Playroom in Tribeca costs me big bucks in carfare and family admission.

As I confess to my hosts that I am now considering enrolling my daughter as soon as she is old enough, another Ribeiro joins us, 3 ½ year old Marcus, who has been half-listening in. He wants to show me how he kicks.

Deborah allows a kick or two but then kindly but firmly she says, “Okay, no more. Mommy is talking.”

After Marcus quiets, Deborah says she still has her work cut out. She is currently looking for indoor winter space for the program, for when the field ices over. Plus she’d like to plan some family picnics and other social get-togethers for the soccer families.

“Why just kids?” I say, thinking of my once-athletic husband. “Would you ever consider organizing a group for local grown-ups hemmed in by their daily routine?”

Deborah nods enthusiastically. “That would be a great release–”

As she’s giving me a South-American style double-kiss goodbye, I can almost see the wheels inside her head turning.

For more information please contact Deborah at eastriversoccer@yahoo. com, and visit Coach Carlos Oliveira’s website: www.cosacademy.com